The Party
by Istalindar
Summary: R for language if nothing else...dunno yet. 1 of 4 trial stories. the party is where it all started, when Hermione's life took an abrupt detour in its normal orderly progress, things start happening abruptly, & she has to learn 2 go with the flow and ma
1. Default Chapter

This is part of my trial run. I have loads of story ideas, but no idea which ones to do. I'll probably do them all eventually, but I need you guys to help me decide which ones to do first. There's four stories in all, and I'll just put the first chapter up of each, then you can decide which sounds the best and I'll work from there. Please tell me what you think! Istalindar.  
  
&  
  
Hermione rolled out of bed and stumbled to the wardrobe, pulling her uniform out and slinging it on the bed. Then she saw herself in the mirror. Saw her bed in the mirror.  
  
"Oh god. Oh no."  
  
In a moment of panic, Hermione spun and still saw a sleeping guy in her bed. Fuck, she couldn't even remember his name. If she ever knew it in the first place. Hermione threw on underwear, jeans and a top, completely forgoing the uniform, and high tailed it out.  
  
"Ginny!" She burst into Ginny's room, and the red head dragged herself up onto her elbow, looking blearily at her.  
  
"Don't you knock?" Hermione glanced at the form beside Ginny.  
  
"Oh fuck!" and again, Hermione high-tailed it out.  
  
Hermione picked her way around the bodies that were sprawled around the Burrow. When Weasley Snrs decided to let Ginny have a 'private' sixteenth birthday, spending the night at a hotel and taking all six boys with them (Bill and Charlie were home for the summer) Ginny had jumped at the opportunity to have loads of 'friends' and 'friends-of-friends' around at the house for an eventful party. Hermione was now more inclined to call it an orgy party as it appeared that was what had happened, much to her horror. What was even worse, was that it appeared Hermione had just lost her virginity in a drunken quickie.  
  
"Oh fuck, fuck, double fuck."  
  
Hermione took solace sitting on the wall outside of the house, staring randomly into space and trying as hard as she could to get her thoughts around what had just happened. What if the guy was some sort of druggie? What if they hadnt used a condom? Hermione sure as hell couldn't remember.  
  
"Mudblood. Where's Zabini?" Hermione's head shot up and she focused on the one person she really didn't need to see right now. Draco Malfoy stood in front of her, arms crossed. He was wearing black jeans and a black t- shirt, and he looked annoyed. He snapped his fingers in front of her face when she didn't answer. "Mudblood! You there? Where the fuck is Zabini?" Hermione shrugged.  
  
"Why the hell should I know?" she asked.  
  
"Zabini said he went to she-weasel's party, which I assume was here. Since I refuse to set foot on the property, you go get him."  
  
"For the record, you're standing on their property, now." Hermione observed. Malfoy looked down and shuddered. Then he looked back up.  
  
"Well?" he demanded.  
  
"Well what?" she asked.  
  
"Why havent you gone to get him?" Draco demanded.  
  
"The same reason I never do anything you tell me. Because it will be a cold day and I will be skiing in hell before I do something for you."  
  
"You know, that was a really lame comeback."  
  
"Not as bad as that one." Hermione's phone rang, and she answered it while Draco stared at her contemptuously. "Hello?"  
  
Hey Hermione! How was the party? It was Harry, sounding much too chirpy.  
  
"Fine. What's up?"  
  
We'll be back in about half an hour. I thought I'd call you and warn you so you could clean the place up...are you alright Hermione? Hermione had broken into a fit of hysterical coughing at the mention of the time span she had to get everyone out of the house and the house cleaned up.  
  
"I'm..." cough "alright."  
  
"You don't sound alright, mudblood." Malfoy commented. Hermione raised her middle finger.  
  
Who was that? Anyway, we'll be back in around half an hour. Harry continued.  
  
"Okay, see you then." Hermione hung up and turned to Malfoy.  
  
"You sure he's here?"  
  
"Yes, mudblood, I am."  
  
"Fine, come on then."  
  
"I'm not going in there."  
  
"If you want him back you are. You have already contaminated those shoes so you might as well finish the job and then you can write Potter on them and burn them later. But if I go in there I'm not coming out again. I have roughly half an hour to get them all out before everyone else gets back."  
  
"You mean Potty and Weasel arent there? What have you been doing?" Malfoy smirked. Hermione rolled her eyes and stormed back towards the house. Malfoy effortlessly caught her up.  
  
"So how can you not know if he's there?" Malfoy asked.  
  
"We were all drunk, and we werent paying much attention to who was who." Hermione answered as she slipped inside, followed closely by Malfoy.  
  
"i.e. you were snogging everyone in sight. Never thought you'd be that indiscriminate, mudblood."  
  
"Drop dead, Malfoy."  
  
"And get my entire body contaminated? I think not." He stood on the doormat watching as Hermione shook (and occasionally kicked) people awake, and told them all to leave. "He's not down here, mudblood."  
  
"I noticed." Hermione snapped. "Come on."  
  
"What's going on? What the fuck is he doing here?" Ginny asked from the stairs. She was wearing loose black sweatpants and a black bra and little else, and when she saw Malfoy looking she crossed her arms over her chest.  
  
"We're looking for Blaise Zabini because everyone's coming back in half an hour." Hermione said. Ginny stared at her in horror, then fainted. "Oh yeah, and that's so helpful." Hermione snorted. She stepped over Ginny and continued up the stairs.  
  
"You're going to leave her there?" Malfoy asked as he stepped over her as well.  
  
"What am I meant to do? Turn into superwoman and sling her over my shoulder?" Hermione asked. Malfoy shrugged.  
  
As they continued up the house, Hermione kept kicking people out the house, warning them not to kick Ginny as they went down the stairs. They reached the top floor, where Ginny and Hermione slept (after Fred and George left Ron got their room), and Hermione stuck her head in Ginny's room and yanked it back out again, bright red.  
  
"Found him, have you?" Malfoy drawled.  
  
"Actually, no. but you can kick him out. I'm not going back in there." Malfoy raised an eyebrow and smirked.  
  
"What was he doing, wanking off?" the colour of her face was fast reaching raspberry, and Malfoy grinned. "You're such an innocent, mudblood." He stuck his head in the door.  
  
"Pull yourself back together and leave. Bloody hell, you're meant to be a Slytherin. Out." Malfoy turned to Hermione. "No Blaise. I'm sure he told me he was here."  
  
"Hold on." Hermione said. She went to her door and crossed her fingers before opening it. She flinched but slid inside, closing the door firmly behind her. Blaise Zabini sat up in her bed.  
  
"You left." He commented.  
  
"Malfoy's here for you." Hermione said. Blaise nodded and got out of bed, and Hermione averted her eyes as he got dressed.  
  
"Are you alright? You're looking a bit sick." Blaise commented as he fastened his trousers. Hermione tried not to let her thoughts linger on his incredibly fit body.  
  
"Everyone's coming back in..." Hermione glanced at her watch. "Ten minutes. I have lost my virginity in a drunken quickie and-" Blaise came over and kissed her forehead.  
  
"Trust me, that was more than a quickie. And you're the best virgin I've ever had. But lets not keep Malfoy waiting." He slipped out the door. Malfoy was leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face, making it clear he had heard every syllable of their conversation. Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"There you are, Malfoy. You've found him. Now leave, the both of you. They'll be back in like...two minutes!" She practically chased them down the stairs, leaping over the still-unconscious Ginny as they went.  
  
"I'll come back if I've forgotten anything." Blaise quirked an eyebrow, and Hermione made shooing motions with her hands. They both left, Malfoy smirking and Blaise grinning, and Hermione heaved a sigh of relief before turning to the rest of the house.  
  
"Scourify!" she commanded, and the house immediately cleaned itself. It had just finished when someone picked her up from behind.  
  
"What the hell have you forgotten, Blaise? They'll be here in like...oh." She turned around to see Harry giving her a really funny look. "Hi Harry." She said with a smile.  
  
"Blaise?" Harry raised an eyebrow.  
  
"One of Ginny's friends. She just left." Hermione lied quickly. Mentally grinning. For one thing, Blaise was most definitely not a she.  
  
"Ah, okay. And why would this Blaise attack you from behind?" Ron asked.  
  
"The same reason Harry would." Hermione said with a shrug.  
  
"I didn't realise you swung that way, Hermione dear." One of the twins said with a grin, kissing her on the cheek and walking past her into the house.  
  
"Don't be a fu-idiot." Hermione quickly changed her insult as she saw Mrs Weasley approaching. The twin in question grinned, and the other one patted her head.  
  
"Good little Hermione." He said.  
  
"Hello, dear. How was the party?" Mrs Weasley asked.  
  
"Quiet." Hermione lied. Actually, it had been really loud, really drunk, and really orgy-ish. Oh fuck, fuck fuck.  
  
"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked, looking around. Hermione glanced towards the stairs and saw that Ginny had revived and removed herself.  
  
"Probably upstairs getting dressed or something. I was only just getting up when you called me, Harry." Hermione smiled at him, and he nodded absentmindedly.  
  
"Have you looked at the time, any of you? We have to be at the station in an hour1" MRs Weasley screeched. Then the chaos ensued.  
  
&  
  
They arrived at the station at 10:58, and made good use of the two minutes by throwing their trunks on board and waving goodbye as they jumped onto the nearly-moving train. Watching the remainder of the Weasley family disappear as the train pulled away from the station, Hermione sighed in relief.  
  
"I cant believe we made it." She said with a relieved laugh.  
  
"You know, I almost thought that my dream was coming true." The four spun to see Draco Malfoy leaning against the wall. His eyes passed from one to the other, lingering on Ginny's chest. "Although, she-weasel isnt generally as many clothes...rather like this morning, eh?" Ginny blushed scarlet. Draco turned to Hermione. "And I rather liked those tight jeans you were wearing...that uniform does absolutely nothing for you." He criticised. Hermione folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.  
  
"Malfoy! Malfoy where the fuck- ah. There you are." Blaise Zabini came round the corner.  
  
"Don't you agree?" Malfoy asked. Blaise raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I missed what I'm meant to agree to." He said with a shrug. Malfoy pointed at Hermione.  
  
"The uniform does absolutely nothing for her." Blaise looked her up and down and grinned.  
  
"Oh, I don't know. She's pretty fabulous underneath..." he winked at her, and she rolled her eyes.  
  
"Shut the fuck up!" Harry and Ron yelled, jumping in front of the two girls. Hermione and Ginny shared a look and took the boys wands from them in unison.  
  
"Stop it, all of you. You two," Ginny directed her comment at Harry and Ron, "Take the trunks and find a compartment. You two," she turned to Malfoy and Blaise. "Leave us alone." Malfoy smirked.  
  
"Cold day and skiing in hell first, darling." He said smoothly.  
  
"Leave 'em alone, Malfoy. It's hardly worth the effort." Blaise said with a grin. Hermione rolled her eyes, refusing to get drawn into the conversation, as Blaise so obviously wanted her to. Malfoy leered at Ginny.  
  
"I wasn't kidding about the dreams though." He sneered. Ginny slapped him, and he withdrew looking shocked.  
  
"Fuck off, ferret boy. That's the only place I'd be associated with you – in your dreams." Ginny spun on her heel and stalked off.  
  
"That told you, I suppose." Hermione said with a shrug. She turned to go, but Blaise caught her arm.  
  
"If I said what Malfoy just said, would you give me the same reaction?" he asked.  
  
"Probably." Hermione said shortly. "But at least you have some basis for those dreams of yours. He doesn't have anything but his sick imagination." Hermione walked off, but still heard Blaise's parting comment.  
  
"I have that too."  
  
&  
  
The rest of the train journey passed uneventfully, although Hermione and Ginny threatened the boys more than once that if they didn't shut up they'd lose their tongues. The boys shut up, and Hermione and Ginny managed to pass the rest of the trip in reasonable peace and quiet. That is, until Seamus and Dean joined them, at which point Hermione and Ginny abandoned ship and went looking for another compartment. The only relatively quiet one happened to house Malfoy and Blaise, and so the girls joined them, giving them sour looks to indicate they wished to be left alone.  
  
For once, the boys complied.  
  
When they arrived at school there was the usual unexpected news of Head Boy and Girl, (Hermione and Draco, obviously) various notices about forbidden things/places that really were forbidden, inter-house relations being a really good thing, and that people should be nice to each other or Filch would just ignore Dumbledore and string 'em up by their ankles and leave them there to turn purple.  
  
Hermione dozed through most of it, although she managed to catch more of it then either Harry or Ron, so she was still able to look like the know-it- all when all she was doing was regurgitating what everyone had heard in different words so the boys thought they were hearing something totally new even though they had actually already heard what she was telling them.  
  
Once she had actually shooed the lads into the dorm, she sighed with relief and wearily went to her own dorm room, where she collapsed on one of the black leather couches.  
  
"Nice job of making yourself look smart there, mudblood." Malfoy drawled as he settled himself in the armchair opposite.  
  
"Fuck off Malfoy."  
  
"But I'm enjoying this." Malfoy protested.  
  
"So wank off in the privacy of your room." Hermione shot back. Malfoy chuckled.  
  
"I don't think that's quite necessary. Not that you could manage to get me off, anyway. I did mean it when I said that uniform does absolutely nothing for you."  
  
"I dont recall asking your opinion actually." Hermione shot back, levering herself off the couch. "I'm having a bath. Interrupt me and I'll kill you."  
  
"As if you could, mudblood. I'd like to see you try."  
  
"Trust me, Malfoy. You really wouldn't. you'd just die." Hermione disappeared.  
  
"Yeah. Whatever." Malfoy settled onto the couch Hermione had just vacated and picked up his potions homework.

&

Review and tell me what you think. the other stories are The Order of Tears, Multiple Personalities and Character Change. Thanks, Istalindar


	2. Chapter 2

Here's your Christmas fix! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate everything, including the criticism, especially if it makes me think about what I'm writing in more detail. I've not updated everything, because most things are WIP and I have a life, however limited it may be, so stick with me and you might even get two updates this break! I hope you like this. Have a brilliant Christmas and New Year everyone. Istalindar

School passed on as it tended to do…Hermione knew everything, Snape took points, Harry and Ron spoke of nothing but quidditch, the name Sirius Black was avoided like the plague because Harry had a tendancy to go on a guilt trip if it was mentioned, Malfoy was a pain in the arse, but then Slytherin beat Gryffindor at Quidditch, Blaise was nice to Hermione and she was sure Malfoy had given up calling her mudblood.

"Hey, mudblood!"

Or maybe not.

"What do you want?" she asked. He caught up with her and walked next to her on the way to herbology.

"We've got to arrange the Halloween Ball, remember?"

"Well, I'm hardly going to do it on the way to herbology, am I?" Hermione snapped.

"Seems as good a time as any to me." Malfoy shrugged.

"Then you need to practise your timing." Hermione retorted.

"Make me." Hermione rolled her eyes. They always had arguments like this. It was beginning to be less bitchy then habit, it was almost their way of saying hello. Because unlike the rest of the civilised world, Malfoy had not yet realised that 'hi' would suffice.

During herbology, Hermione, for the most part, ignored the grins and winks Blaise was sending her way, and the gagging impressions by Malfoy that often followed. She liked Blaise…he was funny, nice, smart etc etc, but she didn't like like him. He was a good friend, but not a potential boyfriend, despite what had happened at Ginny's party. That was a drunken one-night stand, but when Hermione thought about it, there were worse people to lose your virginity to…like Malfoy. Or a sibling. Not that she had one, it wold just be a very bad and very gross thing to do.

After saving Neville from nearly being decapitated by the headless-horseman plant (a small pumkin-like plant that had a mini pumkin on top and had a little very sharp axe in its leafy hand) then nearly losing a finger stopping Malfoy from decapitating Harry, and she'd had enough. She was eternally thankful when the bell rang and she could run out of the greenhouse, mentally noting Sprout's instruction to make notes on Chapter Six, page 145 of the textbook. Having already done such notes, Hermione resolved to hand in the ready-made notes and smile gracefully.

Then she felt really dizzy, the world spun, and there was a flash of light then darkness.

&

When Hermione revived, she was lying in a stone cell next to Blaise, who was working on raising himself into a sitting position, which wasn't as easy as it sounded because both his legs and his hands were tied. Hermione found herself in similar bonds and made an effort to sit up as well.

"Oh, you're awake then." Blaise commented.

"So it would seem. Where are we?" Hermione asked, looking around. Her search didn't yield much, just bare stone wall.

"Deatheater dungeon. Don't know how long we'll be here though."

"_Why_ are we here?" Hermione asked.

"Because Voldemort's got his hands on a prophecy that says a child of Slytherin will ensure the Dark side's victory. They think they've narrowed the Slytherin down to me or Malfoy. You're not pregnant are you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her. The blood drained from her face.

"Shit." He commented.

"No, no. I'm not pregnant. I was…but I aborted it. I'm only seventeen, Blaise. I cant take care of a kid now!"

"Normally I'd be annoyed, but in this case, I'd forgive you. You may have just saved our skins."

"I don't understand." Hermione was completely confused. Supposedly all of Slytherin supported the Dark Lord, so surely both Malfoy and Blaise would be banging like rabbits to get the desired child of Slytherin.

"When they found out it was Malfoy or me, they told us to sleep around. And we did. But we, apart from that night with you, don't tend to have one-night stands. We give our women gifts…" he trailed off and gave Hermione a meaningful look, which she caught and understood. She nodded.

"We like to have a little class, at least." Blaise continued. "The prophecy didn't specify who it was that would birth the child, so the Dark Lord basically told us to be indiscriminate as to where we sowed our favours, so to speak." Hermione nodded again. "You-" he began, but was interrupted by the door being flung open.

"Bring them." A voice commanded, and deatheaters swarmed into the room, dragging Hermione and Blaise away.

&

They came before a uge thrown set on a dais, that was party in shadow. They could see the knees and feet of the person sitting on the throne, but no more. Blaise and Hermione were pushed to their knees, Blaise bent his head, but Hermione kept hers up defiantly.

"So these are them." The person intoned. The voice sent shivers down Hermione's spine and she knew it was Him. "The sire and the woman who will bear the child." Something about the presence of Voldemort made Hermione was to cry and scream and lose hope completely. There was something to his voice, awe-inspiring and powerful that completely immobilised her. And there was the fact that he was near enough pure evil.

"You are pregnant, girl?" he demanded of her. She shook her head minutely, all she felt she could manage. "Answer me!"

"No." she said flatly. Someone struck her and she fell to the floor, but she resolutely pushed herself back up again. "No, I'm not pregnant."

"She lies." He hissed. Hermione raised her eyebrows, annoyed enough now to not be so scared.

"I do not. I think I'd know if I was pregnant or not better than you." Someone struck her again, harder, and when she hit the floor she banged her forehead and grazed her cheek and nose. Grit from the floor rubbed into the cuts and burned. Someone muttered something and Hermione felt tearing pain in her abdomen, and she curled up, refusing to make a sound. Then the pain passed.

"She speaks rightly, great one." A deatheater said. "She is not pregnant." Voldemort hissed his displeasure, and rose to his feet.

"Kill them both, they have failed me." He ordered, and deatheaters dragged them up off the floor. Hermione spat blood and grit out her mouth, her fear returning now her indignation was gone. She really, _really_ didn't want to die right now. And for all her talk of defending herself, the best she could really manage was the result of several kickboxing lessons about three months ago, during the summer holidays. That didn't really count now, when she had lost her wand and was surrounded by people who were perfectly ready to kill her should she cause trouble.

They were pulled along a corridor, Blaise slightly in front of her. He said nothing about his predicament, but when they passed an opening off the corridor, he jerked his head slightly, and Hermione noticed and looked towards that way and saw a door, very possibly the front door.

Then, before she could react, Blaise exploded in a fury of movement, kicking and punching both his captors and hers, and yelling "Run, Hermione!" at the top of his lungs. Hermione did as she was told, sending a fleeting look back as Blaise was swarmed by black-robed deatheaters. Choking back a sob, she rushed into the dark night, heedless of the direction she ran in.

She reached a road and flung out her right arm, hoping to god the knight bus would appear. It did after all, say 'wand-arm' would call it, not necessarily 'wand-arm-with-wand'. True to some unbelievable luck, the purple bus appeared with a bang, and Hermione stumbled aboard, hiccoughing with repressed sobs.

"Where to miss?" one of the drivers said.

"Hogwarts." She answered quickly. "and please, hurry!"

"That'll be sixteen silver sickles, if ye don't mind, miss."

"I'll pay you when we get there. Just go!"

"We've 'eard that one before, aint we Ernie?" one driver elbowed the other. "Payment up front or not at all. Sorry."

"Look, if I call Harry, will you believe him? He rode with you one time." Hermione pleaded. She could hear shouts from the house. If they didn't bloody well hurry…

"How would we remember an 'arry, eh?" Ernie asked.

"Harry Potter! Look, you must remember him, four years ago, you carried him to Diagon Alley and was met by Fudge!"

"So who're you?" Ernie asked, interested now. Hermione pulled her (thankfully!) undamaged phone out her back pocket, and punched in Harry's number, hoping to any deity listening that Harry had charged his phone like he promised he would, and that it was actually on, which was unlikely.

Hermione? Harry answered, sounding worried.

"Harry! It's me! Please, you have to tell Ernie on the knight bus I'll pay him when we arrive at Hogwarts, but we must hurry!"

Pass me over. Harry said grimly. She did, and Ernie rather tentatively held the phone to his ear.

"Right, right." He passed it back.

I'll pay when you arrive. Just be safe, yes? Harry asked.

"I'll try, Harry. Bye." She hung up.

"Let's go." She told Ernie.

"Right miss. Here we go!" the bus jolted, and Hermione hurried to find a bed, which she collapsed on and slept.

&

When she woke, it looked about lunchtime, and they were travelling along a deserted road in the middle of what looked like the Yorkshire moors.

"We'll be a couple' hours yet, miss. But you'll arrive by dinner time tonight, I imagine." Ernie called back. Hermione nodded, and sank back into the pillows. She was safe. Well, mostly. But at what cost? Was Blaise still alive? Was he being punished for setting her free? Well, that was a stupid question. Of course he was. Probably being tortured, excruciating pain making him think he was being ripped limb from limb…Hermione groaned. That was not a pretty picture. Hermione wouldn't even wish that on Malfoy. And she liked Blaise a good deal more than she liked Malfoy.

Hours passed, and Hermione stared blankly out the window or dozed, until she began seeing familiar sights, and when the castle came into view, she sat upright, and tried to tidy herself up as best as she could, using her reflection in the window as a mirror. She looked, frankly, awful. All one side of her face was grazed, as well as her nose. She had a huge bruise forming on her forehead, and the beginnings of a black eye. She hated to think what Blaise looked like now…

"We're 'ere." Hermione jumped up as the bus screeched to a halt.

"I'll get Harry for you." She said quickly.

"No, don't worry 'bout it. Friend of 'arry's is a friend of ours." Hermione shrugged and got off the bus, which disappeared with a bang. Then she was swamped under by Harry and Ron hugging her.

"I cant breathe." She complained after a moment. They let her go, and she saw Malfoy leaning against the wall, watching her. She nodded to him, and he nodded back, then went inside.

"Are you alright?" Ron demanded.

"As expected, I suppose."

"Miss Granger." Hermione saw Prof. McGonagall approaching with Dumbledore, Snape and Madame Pomfrey. "Are you alright?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

"Apart from a few scratches, I think so." Hermione answered truthfully. Madame Pomfrey handed her a huge bar of chocolate and waved her wand at Hermione, muttering a spell. Hermione could feel the insistent itch as the grazes on her face were healed.

"Eat all that chocolate, dear." Pomfrey insisted. Hermione obediantly unwrapped it.

"Would you come to my office, Miss Granger? I think we need to talk." Dumbledore said gently. Hermione nodded. "You boys go back to your dinner. She'll see you later." Harry and Ron reluctantly went back inside, and the crowd of teachers and Hermione followed.

In Dumbledore's office, Hermione sat across from Dumbledore, with McGonagall and Snape behind her. Pomfrey had gone back to the hospital wing.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.

"I was walking back to the castle after Herbology, when I got dizzy then there was this flash of light, and then everything went dark." Hermione clenched her hands in her lap to stop them trembling. "When I woke up, I was in…a dungeon, I guess. I don't know where. Blaise was there as well."

"Blaise Zabini?" Snape asked. Hermione nodded.

"Yes. Then they…they brought us into this…throne room. And…" Hermione trailed off. She took deep breaths and closed her eyes, trying to calm down. Just thinking about it made her want to scream and cry and hide in a corner. She took a deep breath, and continued. "Voldemort was there. He's found a prophecy saying that a child with a Slytherin father will-"

"Ensure Voldemort's victory. Yes, I've heard of the prophecy. They've narrowed it down to Mr Zabini and Mr Malfoy, have they not?" Hermione nodded. There was silence for a moment.

"Continue, miss Granger." Dumbledore prompted. Hermione nodded.

"Before school started, I…well, Blaise…well, we…well, yeah. Anyway. When we came back to school, I found out I was pregnant and aborted it, because I'm seventeen! I cant take care of a kid now! So I didn't tell anyone, and just aborted it… I read a spell somewhere, so it wasn't hard. I guess that's why Blaise and I were taken…Voldemort thought I was pregnant, and I wasn't. when he found out, he was furious…" Hermione gulped air. She could remember feeling his anger, surrounding her and weighing her down. It was palpable, and again, she felt hopeless, helpless and lost.

"He ordered us both killed. We were dragged off, and we passed a door. Blaise noticed and suddenly started fighting the deatheaters, he hadnt before, and yelling for me to run. I did, but- professor! I left him behind! They're probably doing horrible things to him, and its all my fault!"

"Mr Zabini makes his own choices. He always has." Snape said. Hermione turned to stare, shocked, at her professor. The Potions master almost looked sympathetic. Almost. Well, he looked as sympathetic as he ever did, which wasn't very much.

"Professor Snape is right, Miss Granger. You are not responsible for Mr Zabini's actions, though you should be thankful for them." Dumbledore agreed. Hermione was quiet. She was tired of all this, and all she wanted to do was go to bed.

"Tomorrow there will be a meeting of the Order, to assign you a guardian, and someone who will teach you what you need to know to protect yourself. For while you and Mr Potter and Mr Weasley knew about the Order, you were not directly involved. This attack means that you will have to know what's going on totally, as you seem to have become a key player in Voldemort's plans. It'll be tomorrow evening, in my office. Alright?" Hermione nodded, and Dumbledore smiled. "Go to bed, Miss Granger. Get some sleep." Hermione nodded, and rose to her feet. Dumbledore nodded, and she walked out of his office, feeling numb.

Her friends met her at the entrance to Dumbledore's office, but she walked silently beside them as they escorted her back to the Head suite. At the entrance, she kissed them both on the cheek and disappeared inside, still not saying a word. Ron and Harry exchanged a worried look, and went back to the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione walked into her common room, and suddenly felt like she couldn't take another step, so she curled up on one of the couches, stared into the fire, and eventually fell asleep.

Being asleep, she didn't see or hear Malfoy walk in, and stand watching her for nearly ten minutes, before he draped a red blanket over her and went to bed. And he didn't bring it up in the morning.

&


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, this is your last update before February so I hope you like it. I will try and write more of this during the break but in the meantime, read and enjoy. Istalindar

&

The time before the meeting past very quickly. Too quickly, in Hermione's opinion. She just wanted to forget everything that had happened and go back to being normal, not knowing about new prophecies that could involve her.

Before she knew it, Harry came to get her from her common room, and the three of them (including Ron) went up to Dumbledore's office, which was suddenly quite big enough to fit quite a few people. Hermione and the boys sat together, and watched as the chairs in the room filled up. Some Ravenclaw, some Hufflepuff, Lavender, Parvati and Seamus from Gryffindor, and an amazing number of Slytherins. In fact, the larger part of the student majority in the room were Slytherins, and it seemed to Hermione that most of them were seventh years she had always suspected of being in line with Voldemort. Fuck, even Pansy Parkinson was there! She was sat filing her nails, her legs crossed, her shirt too tight, looking like a slut, as always. But she was here! And at the last moment, someone came in the nearly made Hermione fall off her chair. Snape (which she knew and expected anyway) and Draco Malfoy! They were closely followed by Dumbledore.

"We've come here to find someone who will protect miss Granger and help her look out for herself." Dumbledore said without any of his usual preamble. Hermione didn't look at Malfoy – after her comment the other night about her taking care of herself and 'killing' him (she had been joking) this meeting was humiliating. Especially as she fully expected him to tease and mock her about it anyway. When she risked a glance towards the blonde Slytherin, he was slumped in his chair, his arms crossed and his legs extended in front of him, watching Dumbledore.

"We're going to use a Choosing Cup to decide who will tutor Miss Granger (which sounded all wrong to Hermione's ears. She didn't get tutored! She tutored others!) in self-defense and other skills she may need so she can be safer no matter where she goes." Dumbledore said. "The cup will choose the person who is best suited and most capable of teaching Miss Granger what she needs to know, regardless of house, age, etc. it is completely fair and cannot be tampered with." He didn't direct his comment at anyone in particular, but Hermione was sure that he would not have said it if he had not have thought that someone would need to know.

Dumbledore took a plain wooden cup out of a box, and handed it to Professor Snape who passed it around. "Pass the cup around, it will take your measure in the brief seconds that you hold it." The cup went around the present members of the Order, then came back to Dumbledore, who set it on his desk, and tapped it with his wand. It immediately began to glow reddy orange, and before long, a stream of silver sparks began spraying out of it in a neat fountain.

"It will spell out the name of the person most suitable." Dumbledore explained. But Hermione was watching the cup, as the sparks suddenly took on minds of their own and scattered around the room, racing around the members of the Order in the room before returning to hover above the cup before dashing into place to clearly spell a name that did not make Hermione jump for joy.

Draco Malfoy.

Harry and Ron leapt to their feet immediately, while Hermione rolled her eyes. She distinctly heard Malfoy groan.

"He cant train her!" Ron exclaimed.

"It's his son that's meant to help the dark side win! So you're going to let _him_ teach her?" Harry demanded.

"Trust me, Potter, I'm not too happy either." Malfoy drawled.

All the students present began protesting loudly, the Slytherins that their leader wouldn't waste their time on a muggleborn, and the rest of the houses saying they wouldn't trust Malfoy with a pen, let alone Hermione.

"Be quiet." Snape snapped. Silence fell. "The choosing cup cannot be tampered with. And the test cannot be repeated, and even if it could there would be no point. Mr Malfoy would simply be picked again. So I suggest you accept it, because it wont do you any good to fight it constantly."

"I cant believe he said that!" Ron exclaimed.

"He's got a point." Hermione said with a shrug. "The choosing cup chooses the person best suited to perform a certain task. It doesn't make exception for inter-house hated, distrust, misgiving and so on. So if we did it again we'd still get –"

"Ferret boy." Harry said flatly.

"Yeah." Hermione agreed.

"It's not fair." Ron complained.

"Neither's life, Weasley. Get over it. I'm not particularly looking forward to looking after your pet mudblood until she can look after herself." Malfoy said from beside them. Hermione stood up.

"When you've dragged your head out your ass, tell me." She said levelly, and walked out.

&

"Granger! Wait!" Hermione turned around and nearly collapsed from shock. Pansy Parkinson was half-jogging half-walking to catch her up.

Hermione obligingly waited. When Pansy caught up, she smiled. Again, Hermione nearly toppled over from shock. "thanks. So you've got Draco teaching you? Ouch."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked obligingly.

"He's harsh. And beats the shit out of you so you learn to defend yourself if only to stop him pummelling you into the ground. It's not fun."

"He taught you?"

"Yeah. When I first joined, I knew, like, nothing. So he taught me. I have scars."

"Ouch." The two of them began walking.

"Um…yeah. I was just gonna ask you, though. I do dancing, and I wondered if you wanted to come along, because if you're agile and quick, Draco doesn't completely destroy you." Hermione considered it. Then she shrugged.

"Okay, sure. Whatever."

"Cool. You know where the room of requirement is? Tomorrow at six, I'll see you there. Bye!" And Pansy ran off. Hermione went into her common room thinking that was possibly the most surreal conversation she had had in her life. And being friends with Harry Potter meant that a lot of her conversations were surreal.

In her common room, she was reading a book when Malfoy came in. He dropped onto the other end of the couch, and stared at her. Eventually she looked up.

"Stop staring at me." Was all she said, then she went back to her book.

"How did I get loaded with you?" He asked.

"It must have been your superior traits." Hermione said tonelessly.

"So you admit it!" He crowed triumphantly.

"Yeah. I'm not very good at being an insufferable git, or a complete fuckwit, so the cup picked you to teach me, since you're obviously better at it than anyone else in the room." Hermione answered. That shut Malfoy up.

"Room of Requirement at seven." He said presently. Then he went to his room, and didn't quite slam the door. Hermione shrugged and continued reading.

&

That night, Hermione turned up at six at the Room of Requirement and found Pansy already waiting for her.

"Good, you're here. We can start. Are you training with Draco tonight?"

"Yeah, straight after." Hermione nodded.

"Well, at least you'll be warmed up. You always have to warm up before Draco arrives, because he just goes straight into beating you up. He doesn't wait around."

"You know, you're really encouraging about this."

"I prefer truthful." Pansy said with a grin. "Lets go."

For the next hour, Pansy taught Hermione a hybrid style of dancing. It was a mix of moshing, jazz, ballet, modern, tap and just about anything else Pansy could think of. They had just finished, (and Hermione was exhausted) when Malfoy walked in.

"Parkinson." He acknowledged her, and Pansy nodded back. Hermione was becoming seriously confused. Normally, whenever she saw the two in one place, they were all over each other. Here, they were barely acknowledging each other. He turned to her. "You ready?" She nodded, and had a moment to hear Parkinson laugh, before Draco's fist collided with her stomach. She doubled over.

"Get up, mudblood. If I'm about to hit you, move. Or hit me first. Trust me, I can take anything you throw at me." Hermione brought herself upright, only to get punched again. "Come _on_, mudblood. Shift yourself!" Malfoy commanded.

Three punches later, Hermione was finally ducking and dodging. But she never got a punch in. Malfoy was way too fast for her. Everything she tried he blocked and she had to move quickly before she got walloped again. Malfoy's way of teaching wasn't particularly nice, but it did have the advantage that it made her learn quickly.

Two hours later, Malfoy kicked her and let her stay down, breathing heavily. "We're done." He said flatly. He extended a hand to her, and she took it. He pulled her to her feet, and she hastily let go of his hand. "At least you've started moving a bit quicker." He commented.

"I'm seriously bruised, thanks to you." Hermione complained, clutching her stomach. He raised her shirt and glanced at the collection of bruises forming across her pale stomach before he waved his wand and they disappeared.

"No you're not, so stop complaining." He walked out of the room, leaving Hermione staring at the door that swung shut behind him.

When she went back to her room, she collapsed on her bed. She was tired. Very tired. She dashed through the shower and put on her white silk shorts and cami before going straight to bed and so to sleep.

&

The noise of someone banging on her door slowly brought her back from dreamland, although she soon let herself slide back again, unwilling to get up as just about every muscle in her body really, _really_ hurt. Then the banging stopped, and Hermione fell asleep again.

Ten minutes later, she heard someone saying her name, and then the covers were gone, and the cold air made her shiver. Her eyes popped open, and she saw Malfoy standing at the edge of her bed.

"Malfoy!" she exclaimed. "I could have been starkers under those sheets!"

"You werent." Malfoy said with easy confidence. "I saw the strap of your top."

"I could have only been wearing the top then!"

"Then I would have had an interesting view, wouldn't I?" He said with a shrug. "Either way, you've got five minutes before classes start. I suggest you get up." Hermione jerked upright.

"What?" she exclaimed.

"Four minutes, now." He said with a grin. "Until you have to be at your first class." Hermione ran past him into the bathroom. He knocked on the door, and she opened it a crack. He handed her her uniform, and she snatched it and shut the door, but not before he saw that she was wearing only a towel wrapped around her torso. He grinned.

"Three minutes and counting until double Potions with Snape and the Slytherins." He muttered with a smirk before he hurried down to the dungeons. It wouldn't be half as satisfying if he was late as well.

Hermione arrived, red-faced and breathless, at Potions twenty minutes late. She knocked on the door and walked in, bracing herself.

"Kind of you to join of, Miss Granger. Twenty points from Gryffindor for your tardiness. You're now sitting next to Mr Malfoy, due to a change in seating arrangements. Had you been on time, you would have been able to choose a partner towards whom you were more…amicable. But as you did not…well." Hermione slid onto the chair besides Malfoy.

"You're a bastard." She hissed.

"No, I'm not. My parents were married when I was conceived." Malfoy answered blandly while he copied down notes from the board.

"Fuckwit." Hermione murmured.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger. And will you please discuss your love life at another time somewhere else." Snape said, glaring at her.

"But professor!"

"Twenty, Miss Granger. That's fifty today. Would you like to make it any more?" Hermione was quiet.

"She just cant resist me, professor." Malfoy said cheerfully.

"That as may be, Mr Malfoy. I just don't want to hear about it in my class." Malfoy smirked, and Hermione elbowed him, _hard_, in the ribs.

"What was that for?" he demanded in a whisper. Hermione glared at him and he blew a kiss at her.

&


End file.
